Broken bones
by Light1
Summary: Afraid of his nature Alucard tries to hide it from those around him but Maria is more determined than he realizes.


**Broken Bones**

Disclaimer: Castlevania belongs to konami not me. I am making £0.00 out of this fic, it is written purely because I have a burning need to create. Although I would like to own Alucard . . . then he'd be mine.

Rating: PG-13

Part: one of one

Setting: Post SOTN

Authoress note: Half is less than we think.

**Broken Bones**

He had told her not to follow him. He was always hiding from her and it was getting very irritating. Maria was beginning to feel like she was doing all the work to make this -friendship, relationship, she wasn't sure- work. She had been completely open with him, she had told him secrets from her life that she hadn't shared with anyone else and all she wanted in return was for him to make an effort. For the Lords sake, she didn't even know his real name. She refused to believe Alucard was really what his parents had named him. So when he had told her not to follow him, she hadn't listened. She knew that if she simply clomped along behind him, he would hear her. After all half vampires had senses only slightly weaker than those of a full blooded vampire. So she had waited a fraction longer than she normally would and had followed him, keeping a close watch on where she put her feet and how heavy she breathed. He had promised to bring back something big enough for the family. That meant Richter, Annette, himself, herself and the children. That was seven mouths to feed, so he was clearly going to be going after something bigger than a rabbit or two. Annette had dropped building sized hints that she wanted venison so Maria assumed Alucard would be looking for a heard. She watched from a distance as he took a long look around and removed his belts. She blinked at this, for attached to his belt was his sword, a few knives and a small collection of other knick-knacks he carried with him in case of attack. He hung the belt plus everything else on a tree branch and stretched, removing his cloak as well and leaving it on the tree. Maria frowned, so what was he planning to do, talk the deer into coming home for dinner? She watched as he settled himself down to wait. She dared not move and hoped they wouldn't be still for long. Unlike the immortal she could not keep perfectly still and silent for hours on end. Fortunately someone up in heaven smiled down at her and Alucard moved after only thirty minutes or so.

She watched him move carefully down the slope which leads to the lake. He had clearly spotted something and Maria took a moment to admire how good his eye sight must be, either that or his hearing, or his sense of smell. She sighed very quietly and tried to squash all feelings of jealousy. He had so much to offer to the world and he hated himself, it made her want to slap him. Slap him for not appreciating himself and for not understanding that he did not frighten her, he amazed and fascinated her. Pushing the irritation from her mind she followed him until he stopped. He was watching something, intensely focused on something ahead of him. She watched him run, watched as he moved like water, smooth, easy and fast towards his target. She felt safe to move forward less carefully herself as he was so intent on his target. She watched as he leapt over fallen trees, avoided pitfalls and basically moved through the forest as if he had done it a thousand times before. She could see his target now, a stag, clearly a young buck, foolish and inexperienced. The buck saw its predator to late and could not move fast enough. They both went down in a flurry of antlers, fur and cloth. Maria heard the stag scream, heard something crack and heard Alucard cry out. She was moving before she realised she was. She was not as graceful as he had been, she trips and fell twice and cursed in a colourful manner. But she reached him and when she did he was trying to push her away, she almost slapped him, he was always pushing her away. She hardly heard what he was saying as she looked down, the stag was dead, neck twisted in a drastically wrong way; but Alucard's leg was also facing the wrong way.

"Lady please," she watched him try and cover the wound, he was acting like she had walked in on him in the bath rather than walked in on him badly hurt. "it will heal but please go." She saw he was right, the leg was twisting itself and the blood was fading.

"For Gods sake!" she snapped not caring how loud she was being "I am not afraid of you, you twit!" he blinked at her, not used to being yelled at "Now you shut up and sit bloody still or I swear I will slap you." She snorted and turned to look at his leg, it was pulling itself slowly into the right position to heal but it was slow. With a sigh she glared at him and took his ankle in one hand and his knee in the other and twisted hard. He cried out in surprise and quite a bit of pain and instantly she felt guilty but swallowed it down.

"That was for not trusting me," she grumbled and was amazed when she heard him laugh in response. She looked at him and saw the pain fading from his eye to be replaced by relief and a little wonder.

"You're really not disturbed by this at all are you?" he gestured to the rather gross situation of his previously twisted and broken leg. His leg now faced the correct direction and was whole once more. Maria sighed and leaned forwards and kissed him. "What was that for?" he asked

"Just for you Alucard," She answered and was delighted to see the smile it inspired. Perhaps now he understood.

"Adrian, Maria, my name is Adrian."

**End**


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